Ahhh. I misunderstood what you were asking for. I’m sure @Darcy123 has better information.
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Were the top 10 engineering schools based on “prestige”?
My experience working in engineering was quite different, which may partially relate to working for smaller companies. Recruiting was largely influenced by things like success of past hires/past recruiting from that college/organization, location of college (the closer the better), whether the college is likely to have students who are well qualified for the positions including having desired major, and in some cases networking (mostly favoring alma mater). The nearest UC is a top choice for recruiting. There is not going to be recruiting to HYP.
Resume evaluation and choosing who to bring in for an interview was primarily based on skills, experience, and referrals (someone at the company can vouch for your skills and experience, not simply knowing someone at company for engineering, however, knowing can open doors to other positions). The latter referral category can be very influential, particularly if multiple people can vouch for your skills/experience, such as with a past internship.
School name had little influence. I’ve worked with people who attended open admission for-profit colleges, as well as #1 USNWR ranked in engineering colleges. However, having desired major is important. Degree level is also important. Depending on position, a PhD may expected/preferred over bachelor’s. Applicants are evaluated for tech skills during interview, rather than assuming student from school x is skilled/unskilled. To save time/expense, there is often a quick phone interview before bringing in an applicant for an at-company interview.
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In my experience (35 years or so in corporate recruiting) parental or familial referrals are a negligent percentage of total intake. I would never risk my reputation for a friend or family member, and neither would any of my colleagues. If the kid is qualified, he or she can follow our regular recruiting process. And if the kid is not qualified, that’s on their family for attempting an end-run.
Public corporations are investing millions in developing training, advancement, recruiting processes which are more equitable than the old boys network, and someone is going to risk hiring someone who is a friends kid and turns out to be a dud?
No thanks.
A certain percentage of hires turn out to be duds anyway…no assessment system is perfect. But you want your duds to have come through the front door, not a back channel, if you hope to live through another recruiting season!
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The place I’ve seen most connections help is with internships*, not with full time work. It seems like there is a lot more leeway for people to take on an intern via connections than risk taking on a full time hire and if the intern does a decent job, they’ve made the connections themselves for the job offer.
*Smaller firms most often (across industries), not bigger corporate entities.
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Probably the main advantage of social referrals is simply that the person knows that the job exists. Those who do not know that the job exists cannot apply to that job. This may be more relevant for smaller companies, where it may not be obvious that the company (or even its industry or specialty) exists until a friend or family member mentions its existence.
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Big companies are working hard to address the “if you don’t know about a company or an industry you don’t know it’s even an option” problem.
But at the end of the day I get paid to hire the right people in the needed geographies and provide the right support to make them successful. No single organization (government agency, college, corporation) can fix the lack of social capital on its own. We can try with specific programs (big initiatives at HBCUs; military and veteran outreach) but I don’t claim to have the solution globally.
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The top 10 list was the top 10 rated engineering schools. I can’t remember who did the rating. But I consider those ratings to be very subjective such that I would equate rating with prestige rather than anything truly quantifiable.
We did phone interviews before bringing an applicant out for an in-plant interview. Generally, if you got an in-plant interview, you got a job offer. There were some notable exceptions.
We were located in SoCal and our recruiting trips were to the corners of the country. We hired mostly BS/MS new grads. At the time, it was a very desirable place to work and we had no shortage of applicants.
I think some of you are taking too narrow a view of how connections help. One of my son’s most influential contacts came from boarding school.
It was not his first job (that one a professor made the connection), but his second. His high school friend’s mother was very senior at a private equity firm. She let my son know of an opening. He went through the recruiter. The friend’s mother coached my son through all his interviews and negotiations. My son got the job. He has excelled there.
It’s like actors’ kids. They absolutely have to have talent, but the family connections get their foot in the door. Someone without connections may never get their foot in the door.
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I think you addressed this to the wrong person.
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Thanks for this @ucbalumnus great idea for a thread.
About kids getting help from their parents, it depends on the industry (and specialties within the industry). Generally speaking, in industries or specialties within certain industries where merits are, or can be, more objectively measured, family connections play little to no role. Those tend to require more technical and/or quantitative skills (e.g. certain specialties within tech, engineering, top hedge funds). OTOH, in industries where assessments are more subjective, family connections/referrals can play a much bigger role.
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For example, if you want to join an NFL team’s chain gang. It seems those roles are attainable strictly through nepotism and referrals 
I think folks are often loath to acknowledge the importance of connections because they feel it somehow implies their child isn’t deserving. In reality connections help in terms of having an inside track or knowledge about openings that aren’t available to the general public but it isn’t going to get you the job if you aren’t a strong candidate.
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At a certain point it also clicked with me the whole “elite” employer system is built on networking.
Like, you want a job at a “white shoe” financial or law firm. Why? Well, it is prestigious and they pay a lot.
And why is that? Well, those firms have prestigious clients who pay the firm a lot.
And why is that? Well, among other things, a whole lot of networking.
From the outside it can seem like a joke that a lot of that business gets done “at the club,” but that has always been a reality. Some clients over time have questioned whether that system has really worked out efficiently for them, and some have gone different directions with their business. But there are still plenty of clients who at least give plenty of their business to the “white shoe” firms, and so the system rumbles on.
OK, so if you want to be a part of that system, for the prestige and the money, then that is just part of the reality of the job. And indeed, very often you will find that your future prospects within such a career may depend less on exactly how good you are at doing your basic tasks, and more on how good you are at getting business for the firm.
Because that is what the whole system is built on.
Still, if you are merely good at your job and not a “rainmaker”, they will happily work you long hours until you realize you are not going any higher and decide to move on. And you may have some good lateral opportunities at that point, and of course have made a bunch of money, so they will not feel too bad about it.
But again, if you want to stick it out in systems like that, you have to be comfortable with their business model, and their business model is all about those sorts of relationships.
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This seems to me to be the biggest advantage (of family connections), along with identifying opportunities that they might want to explore/apply for. I could coach my kid about consulting interviews and case studies. Our neighbor coached my kid’s friend about an interview at a FAANG company that she’d worked for (30 min mock interview with feedback and question rehearsal). College career services or peers can be helpful, but not to the same extent as someone who has been immersed in the industry or even the specific company for years.
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Part of it might be that there are benefits for topics being only brought up, or discussed with a different premise, when done so informally?
100%! Personal relationships are not going to result in a job offer for someone who is not qualified. The posters who say that connections make a difference are really just pointing to advantages in knowledge, prep and maybe a foot in the door in terms of getting into the process. I look and comment on resumes and cover letters of friends’ kids and friends of my kids. I do mock interviews and review college essays. I am not saying my help makes any difference, but here is a resource that not every kid has.
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Another example of the benefit of contacts.
My spouse knew a trustee at my son’s boarding school. My son was mentored by that trustee as he wanted to go into the same field. The trustee owned a firm that was a client of the investment bank where my son got his first job.
When the trustee was doing a deal with the bank, he told the Managing Director “I’ll give you the business, on the condition that you tell me how Cinnamon’s son is doing”. The MD came down to my son, who had been at the bank for a couple of months, shocked, and asked “How do you know Trustee??!” And they had a conversation.
Now did this get my son a promotion or anything? Of course not! Did it make him get on the MD’s radar screen compared to all the other analysts? Yup.
The help is more nuanced, not so blunt as “give this kid a job!”.
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Doesn’t it sound very much like what some say about the system of elite college admissions in the US?
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I think in general, many business leaders will argue that developing long-term relationships, between firms but also including personal relationships, can be critical to competitive success. And others will argue those practices end up mostly being a form of mutual self-dealing such that they are not really in the best interests of passive shareholders and other non-management stakeholders.
And that split tends to apply to what you are talking about. Some will indeed argue that the ability to have informal, and also private and unrecorded, interactions is critical. Others will argue that is a recipe for collusion, the sorts of collusion that would be cause for firing or indeed legal action if known.
But holding aside my personal perspective, it is certainly the case that a lot of high-value business still gets done that way among various firms and wealthy individuals. And so if you want a piece of that business, you have to be comfortable with that being how the sausage is made.